South Pacific

South Pacific Information

South Pacific is a 1958 American romantic musical film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific. The film, directed by Joshua Logan, starred Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr and Ray Walston in the leading roles with Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary, the part that she had played in the original stage production.

Cast

Rossano Brazzi as Emile de Becque

Giorgio Tozzi as Emile's singing voice

Mitzi Gaynor as Ensign Nellie Forbush

John Kerr as Lieutenant Joseph Cable

An uncredited Bill Lee as Cable's singing voice

Ray Walston as Luther Billis

Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary

An uncredited Muriel Smith as Bloody Mary's singing voice

France Nuyen as Liat

Russ Brown as Captain George Brackett

Jack Mullaney as The Professor

Ken Clark as Stewpot

Thurl Ravenscroft as Stewpot's singing voice

Floyd Simmons as Commander Bill Harbison

Candace Lee as Ngana

Warren Hsieh as Jerome

Tom Laughlin as Lieutenant Buzz Adams

Francis Kahele as Henry, Emile's servant

Robert Jacobs and John Gabriel as Communications men

Richard Harrison as Co-Pilot

Ron Ely as Navigator

Richard H. Cutting as Admiral Kester

Joe Bailey as U.S. commander

Buck Class and Richard Kiser as Fighter pilots

Musical numbers

Note: The film opens with a three-minute, thirty-second orchestral overture

"Bloody Mary"

"There Is Nothing Like a Dame"

"Bali Ha'i"

"A Cock-Eyed Optimist"

"Twin Soliloquies"

"Some Enchanted Evening"

"Dites-Moi"

"I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair"

"I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy"

"Younger Than Springtime"

"Happy Talk"

"Honey Bun"

"My Girl Back Home"

"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught"

"This Nearly Was Mine"

"Finale"

Production

Following the success of the film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, the producers decided to tackle a big-screen adaptation of South Pacific as their next project.

The film was produced by "South Pacific Enterprises", a company created specifically for the production, owned by Rodgers, Hammerstein, Logan, Magna Theatre Corporation (owners of the Todd-AO widescreen process the film would be photographed in), and Leland Hayward, producer of the original stage production. 20th Century Fox partially invested in the production in exchange for some distribution rights. Additionally, all the departments and department heads were Fox's.

The producers' original plan was to have Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin, the two leads of the original Broadway cast, reprise their roles for the film, but Pinza died. Had he survived long enough to perform in the film, the producers would have cast Martin. Instead, Doris Day was offered the part of Nellie, but passed; Elizabeth Taylor tested for the same role, but was rejected by Logan after he heard her sing. Ultimately, Mitzi Gaynor, who had prior work in musical films, and had tested twice for Nellie, was cast in the role. Rossano Brazzi was cast as Emile, a role that was first offered to such established stars as Charles Boyer, Vittorio De Sica and Fernando Lamas. Walston, a noted Broadway musical actor, played the part of Seabee Luther Billis, which he previously played on stage in London.

Hanalei Bay on Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands, together with Portinax Beach and the island of Es Vedrą in Ibiza (Balearic Islands) served as the filming locations for the film, with special effects providing distant views of the fantastic island Bali Ha'i (Es Vedrą). A second-unit filmed aerial views of Fijian islands while some sources claim footage of Tioman Island, off Malaysia's south east coast, were also featured, though this seems unlikely given the logistics involved. Location filming provided sweeping shots of tropical island scenes, as well as a new sequence not in the stage version, in which Billis, having parachuted from a damaged plane, has a boat dropped on him, then comes under a series of attacks, following his fatalistic "Oh, it's going to be one of those days, huh?"

The film includes the use of colored filters during many of the song sequences, which has been a source of criticism for the film. Director Joshua Logan wanted it to be a subtle change, but 20th Century Fox, the company that would distribute the 35mm version, made it an extreme change and since tickets to the film were pre-sold (it was a roadshow attraction), they had no time to correct it.

All of the songs from the stage production were retained for the film. A song entitled My Girl Back Home, sung by Lt. Cable and Nellie, cut from the Broadway show, was added.

One of the differences between the film version and the Broadway version of the musical is that the first and second scenes of the play are switched around, together with all the songs contained in those two scenes. The stage version begins with Nellie and Emile's first scene together on the plantation, then proceeds to show Bloody Mary, Lieutenant Joe Cable, and the Seabees on the beach, while in the film version Lieutenant Cable is shown at the very beginning being flown by plane to the island, where the Seabees and Bloody Mary have their first musical numbers. (The first musical number in the film is Bloody Mary Is the Girl I Love, sung by the Seabees, while in the stage version it is Dites Moi, sung by Emile's children.) Emile is not shown in the film until about thirty minutes into it; in the film, Nellie first appears during the scene with the Seabees. Because of the switch, the show's most famous song, Some Enchanted Evening, is not heard until nearly forty-five minutes into the film, while in the show it is heard about fifteen minutes after Act I starts.

Juanita Hall sang in the stage production and took part in the recording of the stage production cast album. However, she had her singing dubbed for the film version by Muriel Smith, who played Bloody Mary in the London stage production. Metropolitan Opera star Giorgio Tozzi provided the singing voice for the role of Emile de Becque in the film. John Kerr starred as 2nd Lt. Joseph Cable, USMC and his voice was dubbed by Bill Lee. Ken Clark, who played Stewpot, was dubbed by Thurl Ravenscroft (who sang "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and was the voice of Tony the Tiger). Gaynor and Walston were the only principal cast members whose own singing voices were used.

Release

Criticism of the color filters did not prevent the film from topping the box office of 1958. It earned $6.4 million in rentals in North America. In London, the film played continuously at the Dominion Theatre for nearly four-and-a-half years. South Pacific had the honor of being the highest-grossing Rodgers and Hammerstein musical film until The Sound of Music was released seven years later.

The 65mm Todd-AO cinematography (by Leon Shamroy) was nominated for an Academy Award, as were the music adaptation and the sound. South Pacific won for Best Sound.

The soundtrack album has spent more weeks at #1 in the UK Albums Chart than any other album, spending 115 weeks at the top in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It spent 70 consecutive weeks at the top of the chart and was #1 for the whole of 1959.

Magna Theatre Corporation, which originally owned a stake in the film, handled the distribution of the roadshow presentations, while Fox distributed the film for its general (wide) release. The film was re-released by The Samuel Goldwyn Company in 1983. Originally shown in a nearly three-hour roadshow version, later cut to two-and-a-half hours for general release. The three-hour version, long feared lost, was rediscovered in a 70mm print owned by a collector. This print was screened in Bradford, England at the National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television on March 14, 2005. When Fox (which by that time owned partial distribution rights to the film, including home video) learned of the print's existence, they took it to the United States to reinstate the fourteen missing minutes and attempt to restore as much of the color as possible. A 2-disc DVD set of both the longer and shorter versions was released in the USA on Region 1 on November 7, 2006 and earlier on UK region 2 on 20 March 2006.

"Some Enchanted Evening" was ranked #28 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Songs (2004).

On March 31, 2009, South Pacific became the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical available on high definition Blu-ray Disc.

Today, the film is owned by the respective estates of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (through their acquisition of Goldwyn), owns the U.S. domestic theatrical and television distribution rights, while Fox handles home video and all other underlying distribution rights.